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The Poetic Edda: Hovamol · 14 of 16 · tr. Henry Adams Bellows

Section 1n

Knowest how one shall write, | knowest how one shall rede? Knowest how one shall tint, | knowest how one makes trial? Knowest how one shall ask, | knowest how one shall offer? Knowest how one shall send, | knowest how one shall sacrifice? [144. Dain and Dvalin : dwarfs; cf. Voluspo , 14, and note. Dain, however, may here be one of the elves rather than the dwarf of. that name. The two names also appear together in Grimnismol , 33, where they are applied to two of the four harts that nibble at the topmost twigs of Yggdrasil. Alsvith ("the All Wise") appears nowhere else as a giant's name. Myself : Othin. We have no further information concerning the list of those who wrote the runes for the various races, and these four lines seem like a confusion of names in the rather hazy mind of some reciter. 145. This Malahattr stanza appears to be a regular religious formula, concerned less with the runes which one "writes" and "tints" (cf. stanza 79) than with the prayers which one "asks" and the sacrifices which one "offers" and "sends." Its origin is wholly uncertain, but it is clearly an interpolation here. In the manuscript the phrase "knowest?" is abbreviated after the first line.] p. 63 146. Better no prayer | than too big an offering, By thy getting measure thy gift; Better is none | than too big a sacrifice, . . . . . . . . . . So Thund of old wrote | ere man's race began, Where he rose on high | when home he came. * * * 147. The songs I know | that king's wives know not, Nor men that are sons of men; The first is called help, | and help it can bring thee In sorrow and pain and sickness. 148. A second I know, | that men shall need Who leechcraft long to use; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [146. This stanza as translated here follows the manuscript reading, except in assuming a gap between lines 3 and 5. In Vigfusson and Powell's Corpus Poeticum Boreale the first three lines have somehow been expanded into eight. The last two lines are almost certainly misplaced; Bugge suggests that they belong at the end of stanza 144. Thund : another name for Othin. When home he came : presumably after obtaining the runes as described in stanzas 139 and 140. 147. With this stanza begins the Ljothatal , or list of charms. The magic songs themselves are not given, but in each case the peculiar application of the charm is explained. The passage, which is certainly approximately complete as far as it goes, runs to the end of the poem. In the manuscript and in most editions line 4 falls into two half-lines, running: "In sickness and pain | and every sorrow." ] p. 64 149. A third I know, | if great is my need Of fetters to hold my foe; Blunt do I make | mine enemy's blade, Nor bites his sword or staff. 150. A fourth I know, | if men shall fasten Bonds on my bended legs; So great is the charm | that forth I may go, The fetters spring from my feet, Broken the bonds from my hands. 152. A fifth I know, | if I see from afar An arrow fly 'gainst the folk; It flies not so swift | that I stop it not, If ever my eyes behold it. 152.
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Themes
Animismcosmology

The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.

Commentary mentions dwarfs, elves, and giants as races receiving runes, reflecting a worldview populated by plural divine agents.

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Anthropomorphismtheology

Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.

The divine figure Odin speaks in the first person and possesses human-like attributes such as knowledge and speech. [quarantine-w3: anthropomorphism x norse — see rellm data/quarantine/dossiers.jsonl]

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Cosmogonycosmology

Narratives or doctrines of cosmic origin — how heaven, earth, and the primordial deities first came into being. The Kojiki's deities born alone on the Plain of High Heaven, Voluspo's Ginnungagap, Genesis's tohu wa-bohu, the Timaeus's Demiurge fashioning the Receptacle, the Hesiodic Theogony, the Kalevala's egg-cosmogony, Egyptian Nun-and-Atum. Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (structural-ontological cascade), letters_of_creation (mechanism of creation), and apocatastasis/frashokereti (end-state restoration); cosmogony is temporally-narrative beginning.

Commentary notes that Thund wrote runes 'ere man's race began,' touching on the origin of knowledge relative to creation.

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Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

The power to help or protect is derived from the specific knowledge of songs that ordinary men do not possess.

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Hidden Sayingssoteriology

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

Odin claims knowledge of songs that 'king's wives know not,' indicating esoteric teachings reserved for those initiated or capable. [quarantine-w4: hidden_sayings x norse — see rellm data/quarantine/dossiers.jsonl]

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Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

Odin is portrayed as an active, personal deity who teaches, writes runes, and intervenes in human affairs. [quarantine-w2: living_god x norse — see rellm data/quarantine/dossiers.jsonl]

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Prayerpraxis

Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.

Stanza 146 and commentary explicitly discuss the balance and efficacy of prayer versus offering in religious practice.

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Sacred Namestheology

Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.

The text focuses on runes which are written and tinted, functioning as divine formulas or names that carry ontological power. [quarantine-w4: sacred_names x norse — see rellm data/quarantine/dossiers.jsonl]

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Theurgypraxis

Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.

The text describes ritual practices involving sacrifice and runes to engage divine power directly for specific outcomes.

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Word Power Incantationpraxis

The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.

The passage explicitly details magic songs (galdr) that alter reality, such as stopping arrows or breaking bonds, fitting the definition's mention of Norse galdr and causal-magical force.

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World Tree Axiscosmology

A vertical structure connecting cosmic levels — a tree, pillar, mountain, or ladder linking heaven, earth, and underworld around which the cosmos is organised. Yggdrasil binding the Nine Worlds in Norse cosmology, the Kalevala's Sampo as world-pillar, the Mayan ceiba, the Vedic Aśvattha, the shamanic central tree of Eliade's analyses. Cosmic-structural in character: distinct from sefirot_tree (a kabbalistic emanation diagram) and emanation_hierarchy (an ontological cascade); world_tree_axis is the cosmos's spine rather than the divine's outflow.

The commentary note explicitly references Yggdrasil and the harts nibbling its twigs in relation to the names mentioned.

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